I was recently going
through our Lithuania pictures of John-Patrik and I couldn’t believe the
transformation. I’ve been wanting to do a side by side for a while. He went from.... a blah, little lump of boy,
to this spunky little firecracker today. The picture on the left he looks
depressed, the one on the right he looks content. Not only has he grown tremendously on a
developmental level, but also physically. When we met him on Nov. 25, 2014 he
was 25 lbs and 32 inches tall. Now he is 34lbs and 35.5 inches tall! And we’ve
only been home for just over 4 months!
As a few of you know, in
Feb. he had surgery; he had tubes put in his ears, a tonsillectomy, and a
circumcision, as well as a hearing test. After they cleaned out the foul gunk
out of his ear canals (that made even the seasoned surgeon gag) they found that
he has perfect hearing! A huge praise! Unfortunately, immediately following
the surgery he was hospitalized for pneumonia. That was an awful, very long,
week. We realized that he had to have had the pneumonia before the surgery
based on his oxygen saturation before surgery and after he was healthy.
Since then we have
started him in Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Speech Therapy. He
is making great strides in all three areas! Now that he can hear clearly he is
making new sounds literally everyday. Both consonant and vowel sounds,
sometimes together, making word sounds and in context! “Alga”... all gone.
“Dadad”... clear as a bell when Rich walks in the room. (of course, no “mama”
yet) “Getgetget”... when the dogs are playing or when he’s wrestling with his
brother, Dax. And, I could swear he said something resembling “stinky” when I
asked if he was stinky. He chatters all day and always finds his [loud] voice
every time we go to Sam’s Club. He is also signing several words that make
understanding his needs a lot easier. If he doesn’t do the sign himself he
pushes and pulls my hands to make me do the sign, which cracks me up. He
follows one-step directions fairly well if it’s basic, “Put it in.” or “On top”
for putting toys away or stacking blocks. He adores his speech therapist,
Alix!
As far as walking, he
isn’t as driven to try as much as he is with the other therapies. He gets
around fine crawling, so he thinks, and when he’s not crawling I’m holding him.
I’m sure your first thought is stop holding him so much and he’d probably learn
to walk sooner, right? Well, in the adoption scenario it’s not that simple.
Right now, attachment is everything; it trumps all other things. He’ll learn to
walk eventually (because I do work with him everyday on top of Wednesdays at 2pm
for PT) but right now, just after arrival to his new home, it’s pivotal for
attachment and being held is one of the best ways to connect and instill
security. He is gaining muscle mass and core strength... just ask any nurse who
has tried to give him a shot! His fine motor skills are also developing very
well.
In his Occupational
Therapy we are working on his sensory development more so than his everyday
self-tending areas like feeding or dressing himself. Again, attachment trumps
everything and like being held instills safety & confidence, the activity of
being fed creates trust. Especially making eye contact while sharing food,
which I do with him every day, always making sure to give him the last bite to
reinforce trust and a sense of priority & importance. Given his orphanage
life he will probably always have food issues in one form or another, one of
which is waiting for a meal. In the orphanage the food was brought to their
room where they were already at a table, bibbed and ready to eat as soon as he
smelled it. But, in our home, like most homes, the food starts smelling like
food very early in the cooking process. So, when he starts smelling it he
thinks it’s time to eat. The total bummer is that when he keeps smelling it and
he’s still not sitting at the table eating it, (because it’s not ready yet) he
thinks he’s missed the meal and he gets very sad. Like, his whole body sags and
he gets the most pathetic look on his face. It kills me!
His
little personality is coming out more and more!
Recently he started copying me in my morning routine, which is eating
graham crackers with my morning coffee. (Alternately) He would normally have graham crackers with
me but he was getting his bottle of milk after.
But he would watch me take a drink of coffee after each bite; studying
me. Just a few days ago he started
wanting his milk with his crackers so that he could drink it at the same time
too. It’s very cute… and messy. There are dozens of little experiences like
this that just warm my heart.
It not
all sunshine and roses though. There are
days that are very hard. These usually
involve him pinching and scratching himself.
We are starting to gain some ground on this. The more we identify his sensory needs the
more we are meeting them through the therapy swing in OT, deep pressure,
massaging his palms, and using essential oils.
The palms thing works instantly for anyone out there that is looking for
a quick calming strategy for your worked-up kiddo. These tools have saved my sanity on several
occasions.
This has
been an amazing journey so far and we’ve really only just begun. Our reliance on Jesus and the peace that can
only be found in Him is the only reason we’re functional. We see Him working all the time in and
through our family…
Always refining, always
developing, and always, always loving.
(That picture always
cracks me up!)
